Emotion Regulation of Hippocampus Using Real-Time fMRI Neurofeedback in Healthy Human

This study investigated the feasibility of NF training of healthy participants to self-regulate the activation of the hippocampus and assessed the effect of rtfMRI-NF on the hippocampus before and after training. Twenty-six right-handed healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to the experimental group receiving hippocampal rtfMRI-NF (n = 13) and the control group (CG) receiving rtfMRI-NF from the intraparietal sulcus rtfMRI-NF (n = 13) and completed a total of 4 NF runs. The hippocampus and the intraparietal sulcus were defined based on the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) standard template, and NF signal was measured as a percent signal change relative to the baseline obtained by averaging the fMRI signal for the preceding 20 s long rest block. NF signal (percent signal change) was updated every 2 s and was displayed on the screen. The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation and regional homogeneity values were calculated to evaluate the effects of NF on spontaneous neural activity in resting state fMRI. A standard general linear model (GLM) analysis was separately conducted for each fMRI NF run. Results showed that the activation of hippocampus increased after 4 NF training runs. The hippocampal activity of the experiment group participants was higher than that of the CG. They also showed elevated hippocampal activity and the greater amygdala-hippocampus connectivity. The anterior temporal lobe, parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus, and amygdala of brain regions associa...
Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research